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Looking for a Center Back


TheJanitor

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Hey, I'm currently in the middle of my first season with Liverpool using the latest data update. I'm right before the January window and currently have £51 mil to spend and £450K in wages. I'm looking for a center back to replace Lovren and play alongside Joel Matip in my backline. Lovren hasn't been doing too badly, but I feel like I need to upgrade on one of these two, and Matip is younger, better IMO and just joined so might be harder to offload, while Lovren is already getting interest from various teams. Basically what I want is someone who is physically dominant, aggressive and robust to complement Matip's more "cover" style of defending. An important thing to note is that I am playing a high-line, so he needs to be pacey.

An example and option(?) - Virgil Van Dijk

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Signing another Southampton player would fit well with Liverpool's philosophy IRL. Not only that, but I really like the looks of him- with his Strength, Heading, Jumping Reach all above 18+ and Balance 16, he is a remarkable presence in the air. He is also quick and agile for a defender and with good Anticipation and Positioning could definitly play in a high defensive line. He is not perfect though- his Marking and Teamwork a bit low for my taste, but his Concentration and Descision pretty awful. At 25, I doubt there would be a massive change to this. He will be a pricey addition for my team- I'd have to shell out between 30-40 mil for him, so the question is, would he be worth it? I tend to stay way from defenders with bad mental attributes, but he fits the bill almost perfectly on every other department.

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40 minutes ago, Harryseaess said:

I have Stefan de Vrij for my Man Utd side and I've been very happy with him.

Yeah looked at de Vrij alreay, looks good, but pretty much identical to Lovren:

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He is younger, but I don't see him develop to the point that he is much better.

31 minutes ago, batty1 said:

Nastasic from Schalke look decent

Looked at him as well, looks good as a cover or maybe even potential upgrade to Matip, but not the sort of CB I want next to him.

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28 minutes ago, oneronaldo said:

Daniele Rugani is always my first option for a young center back, Juventus are ****s to negotiate with though so good luck.

I find Rugani quite easy to get for around £25m. Romagnoli is the hardest for me, Milan seem to want about £60m every time I go in for him.

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1 hour ago, Black and Yellow said:

Romagnoli at Milan?

N'Koulou at Marseille (I think!)?

 

Romagnoli is always a good shout, but I doubt Milan will let him go for anything reasonable at this point.

Nkoulou at Lyon, used to be my goto defender a few version back but now kinda meh. Klavan level.

1 hour ago, Harryseaess said:

Eric Bailly? You'll struggle to get him off Man Utd but he seems to have everything you want.

Jonathan Tah also an option.

Bailly looks better as an upgrade to Matip. He is a beast! But as you said, getting him from Man Utd will be impossible.

Tah is a good shout, similar to Van Dijk is more than one way, already better Concentration and Decisions and much younger, but his Aggression and Determination (or lack of it) kinda deter me from getting him.

53 minutes ago, oneronaldo said:

Daniele Rugani is always my first option for a young center back, Juventus are ****s to negotiate with though so good luck.

Rugani looks available for something between 20-30 mil and fits the profile nicely. Probably the pick of the bunch for me atm.

Thanks for all the suggestion lads!

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I was going to suggest Niklas Süle, but remembered you were only in you first season. He joins Bayern in the summer, but he may be someone to keep an eye on. I also echo @Kamakazeee's suggestion of Jaïro Riedewald. Very complete for a centre-back; a good defender and capable of taking great responsibility in the build-up. Can also play as a #6!

By the way: how are you embedding those full size images into your posts? Can't for the life of me find out how / manage to do it!

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I had a huge injury crisis on my Man Utd save. Had Rojo as my only fit centre back. Brought in Tiago Silva for 20 mil, been really solid for me and adds a lot of leadership abilities. might of overpaid a bit for a 32 year old but I needed someone who was world class now. He ended the season with a 7.4 average rating

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3 hours ago, LLNDVS said:

I was going to suggest Niklas Süle, but remembered you were only in you first season. He joins Bayern in the summer, but he may be someone to keep an eye on. I also echo @Kamakazeee's suggestion of Jaïro Riedewald. Very complete for a centre-back; a good defender and capable of taking great responsibility in the build-up. Can also play as a #6!

By the way: how are you embedding those full size images into your posts? Can't for the life of me find out how / manage to do it!

Just copy the image and paste it on the post, nothing else.

45 minutes ago, AntHolroyd said:

I had a huge injury crisis on my Man Utd save. Had Rojo as my only fit centre back. Brought in Tiago Silva for 20 mil, been really solid for me and adds a lot of leadership abilities. might of overpaid a bit for a 32 year old but I needed someone who was world class now. He ended the season with a 7.4 average rating

Good signing there, don't think you overpaid, 32 is not that old for a CB.

As for me, either Van Dijk or Rugani. A part of me is still leaning for the former- anyone had any experience with Van Dijk?

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Personally I don't get the appeal of Van Dijk. He has very poor concentration and decision. And his marking is only 12. IMO not good enough for high level.

I'm pretty much at the same stage as you @TheJanitor. I started my Liverpool save with the 17.3 data update and first transfer widow turned off. Start of December got my transfer budget announced for the Winter window and I'm thinking where can I improve. 

I'm quite happy with the partnership of Lovren and Matip. Both of them have one of the highest average ratings without scoring much. Lovren is wanted by a few teams and he asked to leave for Real Madrid to play in the CL. But I told him I will sell him only if we don't qualify for the CL next season and he was fine with it. I won't accept anything less than double his value. And if that happens, only then I will look for his replacement - the usual suspects, Rugani, Romagnoli,  etc. In the meantime, I'm thinking about a better back up - Michael Keane. I like how he has been upgraded and he is English. 

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19 hours ago, yonko said:

Personally I don't get the appeal of Van Dijk. He has very poor concentration and decision. And his marking is only 12. IMO not good enough for high level.

Yeah, I know. The appeal is his supreme physical ability. I really like a "beast" sort of player, but after sleeping on it, Van Dijk really ain't worth it.

18 hours ago, herne79 said:

Murillo at Inter.

Unless you are playing with someone at DM I personally dislike central defenders with high Aggression as it can lead to them stepping up a little too often.

You think this is always the case? What if I want a player who is naturally a "stopper" type, kind of like Nemanja Vidic or John Terry sort of player?

17 hours ago, onecockygeezer said:

Have a look at Marcel Tisserand, signed him for 8.5m and he's stayed with me from a mid table EPL side to champions league winners, absolute rock.

Will scout him, thanks for the suggestion. Got a screen of him after development?

14 hours ago, eastley said:

Jorge Mere?

Can be quite good if he is given the higher end of his PA..

Isn't half bad, maybe sort of a left-field option as a ball-playing defender.

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37 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

You think this is always the case? What if I want a player who is naturally a "stopper" type, kind of like Nemanja Vidic or John Terry sort of player?

If you want a player/role/duty which does that, and it fits your tactical system, then sure.  Just keep an eye on their movement.

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I would go for Rugani, he is probably the best value. And he is pro and turned out really good for me after a couple of seasons. He never stopped developing the four seasons I played. Murillo is very good too, maybe even better value for money in the short run.

 

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I can highly recommend Francesco Acerbi at Sassuolo.

He was a rock for me in the ongoing 'Formations Challenge' thread over on the tactics board. At 6"4 with excellent jumping reach, strength and very solid natural defensive attributes he is robust. Throw in high ratings for anticipation, concentration and a determined-style personality and you end up with a very capable centre back. Aerially he is immense.

The only thing he lacks is acceleration, although I was also playing a high-line and it wasn't problematic.

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On 3/13/2017 at 23:31, onecockygeezer said:

Have a look at Marcel Tisserand, signed him for 8.5m and he's stayed with me from a mid table EPL side to champions league winners, absolute rock.

What an incredible find, thank you! I'm going to sign him to replace Ömer Toprak in my Leverkusen save first season.

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I would still consider Van Dijk, yes his concentration attribute is low but he is quality and very solid.

I brought him in my Man Utd save and barring not scoring many goals, you can see his average rating for each season is pretty good. In the 3rd season we only conceded 14 goals in the league and twice in the 5 seasons he helped us achieve 22 league clean sheets, he also rarely had a bad game or a game where his rating was below 7.

So definitely still worth considering.

58d2d731cbc7f_vandijk.thumb.jpg.d3c41c3db6e071741bb4eaad1a0d593e.jpg

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Van Dijk is brilliant in that role. Three and a half seasons into a Southampton save playing alongside Goldaniga and he's the best player I've had, usually gets about 7.20 on average for a season. He's impervious in the air. Currently averaging about 7.50 this season. 

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